Mr. Freeze
"We '''all' have one of these inside our heads...a symbol of death without wich we cannot live. And if we use what's inside our heads...eventually we will live to conquer death."'' Dr. Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze, is a cold-themed villain and one of Gotham City's most prominent criminals. Originally just a scientist specializing in cryogenics, Victor had a decent living in Gotham as a well-regarded cryogenics expert working for GothCorp, remaining happy with his loving wife, Nora. When his wife contracted a terminal illness, however, he desperately sought help but no one believed she would live for long. Forced into desperation, Victor cryogenically froze her in secret, keeping the illness from claiming her while using Gothcorp's resources to try and develop a cure on his own. After being discovered by his boss, an altercation resulted in a laboratory accident that permanently lowered Victor's body temperature, resulting in him resorting to crime in order to try to save Nora, dubbing himself "Mr. Freeze." History Early Life Victor Fries was born December 7, 1978 in Budapest, Hungary. As a child, he developed a strong love for animals as a subconcious escape from the pressures of his brutal, control-freak father. This lead to the start of his interest in cryonics at a young age, fascinated by freezing animals as a hobby. Seeing the pets of his neighbors often afflicted with disease, Victor found means to freeze them, doing so to over a dozen of the pets in an attempt to cure them of their sickness, desiring to preserve them so they can continue to exist in the future, fully intending to revive all of them later. When he was caught, Fries was sent to a strict boarding school; his parents, horrified by his "hobby," sought for him to be reformed, secretly displeased with their son. At the boarding school, Victor was miserable, feeling detached from humanity. That winter, when the other children went home for the holidays, Victor discovered that his parents had disowned him. He was thought of as in embarrassment, a mistake to be filed away and forgotten, and he never saw them again. Education Despite the separation from his family, Victor proved to be more than just a delinquent. He put himself through school studying biology and chemistry. He turned his childhood fascination with cryogenics into a stellar progression in his education, eventually moving to the United States to further his intellect. Here, he began to outshine his peers in cryogenics, in part due to his secluded, singular dedication to turn the embarrassment of his childhood into something meaningful for society. Victor felt that he may never feel a warm touch, but then his life turned around for the better. During his second year, Victor met and befriended a young woman named Nora Fields, a beautiful athlete also studying at the college. Throughout the rest of their time at the college, the two fell in love and ultimately married shortly after graduation. He then got a job teaching cryogenics at the college for a time. Gotham City A few years into teaching, Victor and his wife ended up moving to Gotham, where Victor got another teaching job for Cryogenics. Victor and Nora Fries were a positive couple, believing that they were ready to tackle anything that life had to throw at them. This helped them live through the depression that claimed Gotham City, which held many people in darkness due to the crime ruling the streets and the immunity of the families running the gangs. Finding the Cure However, their happiness was short-lived; merely a year after moving to Gotham, Nora was diagnosed with a fatal disease; an unknown, terminal illness resembling an advanced form of cancer. Victor, sickened with sorrow, sought every doctor to try and save her, but after only a few failed treatments the couple ran out of money to support her health. Fries left teaching and took on a job working for GothCorp, headed by Ferris Boyle, who was interested in Victor's expertise to develop advanced weapons. In exchange, Boyle would devote GothCorp resources to finding a cure for Nora. Desperate, Victor discovered a way to put Nora into cryo-stasis (using company equipment), hoping to sustain her until she could be saved. He convinced Nora to allow him to preserve her in cryogenic stasis so that he would have more time, believing that he also had to try to work on the cure himself. Hesitant to watch Victor tirelessly work to save her, Nora reluctantly complied with his desire and was frozen, halting the disease's effect on her body. Unfortunately, even as Victor held up his end of the deal, Boyle kept stalling on his. Victor eventually realized that Boyle was more interested in how he put Nora into cryostasis instead of actually saving her; Victor decided not only to do the research himself, but also to begin embezzling funds from GothCorp as a way to get back at Boyle, who made an empty promise in order to take advantage of Fries. Transformation Despite Victor's best attempts to keep his operations secret, Boyle found out about the experiment and canceled the funding, attempting to have Nora brought out of stasis and overruling Fries' frantic objections. Confronting Fries in his lab while accompanied by two guards, Boyle threatened to unplug the cryostasis power and life-support, claiming that the research, equipment, and by extension Nora herself, were his property to do with as he desired; this pushed Victor into a fury, resulting in a struggle between Victor, Boyle, and the guards. During the confrontation, a container of cryogenic chemicals was damaged; the sudden pressure change for the fluids within caused the container to explode, releasing a plume of the substance within that engulfed the room. Though Boyle and the guards were able to escape, Victor was right next to the container, leaving Boyle to believe he was killed instantly from the explosion. This did not kill Victor, but instead resulted in him being doused in the coolants which inhibited his ability to escape, forcing him into unconciousness shortly after. It didn't take long for Victor to come to, as his body began to suffer from intense heat stroke for reasons he couldn't realize until, in despiration, he sought refuge into a super chilled room that brought him comfort. Discovering that the incident had lowered his body temperature to sub-zero levels, Victor scrambled materials from within the lab to construct an insulated suit so that he could escape the lab with Nora's cryopod without dying from standard temperatures in the outside world. Criminal Beginning Initially believing Boyle to have died from the laboratory accident, Fries used his insulated suit in tandem with a cold gun, resembling a highly-powered fire extinguisher, and began stealing money by robbing a couple banks to continue his research for Nora. Going by the public moniker of "Mr. Zero," he was thwarted many times by the GCPD; his luck ran short when an operation of his failed during another bank robbing, barely able to escape when a confrontation with GCPD resulted in a building collapse. Barely escaping with his life, Victor faked his death and convincing Gotham that he had died in his attempt to flee. After laying low for a short while, Fries found out that Boyle had indeed survived the laboratory incident. Swearing revenge on GothCorp and its CEO, Victor redeveloped his attire and cold gun, creating his first semi-powered, partially armored refrigerated suit and a more advanced freeze gun that actively froze its targets solid. He returned to crime, now renaming himself "Mr. Freeze." First encounter with Batman Using some of his acquired funding to get himself a small gang of thugs as well as an armored van and weapons, Mr. Freeze begins his plot to bring down GothCorp and enact his vengeance on Boyle, intending to make him suffer for what he did. Part of his plan entailed stealing the parts of a powerful freezing machine GothCorp developed from some of his former research, remodeling the parts into an advanced freezing weapon he would use into threatening the company into giving him all their resources before killing its CEO with it. Managing to steal the parts in various raids, Mr. Freeze had his first encounter with Batman while acquiring the last critical piece. Hampering Batman with his Freeze Gun, Mr. Freeze took advantage of Batman's compassion for a partially frozen thug who was caught in the crossfire, escaping with the rest of his crew while the Dark Knight saved the thug. Mr. Freeze paid one more visit to GothCorp, finding Batman uncovering documentation and security footage of the accident that transformed Freeze that had been hidden away by Boyle. Ambushing the Dark Knight, Mr. Freeze partially froze him and took him to his lair to keep him from interfering further. While he had Batman captured, he explained everything that had happened; Batman tried to reason with him, but Freeze ignored him, pledging to destroy the man who ruined his life, even if people get killed in the process. His work now complete, Mr. Freeze left Batman behind with a few of his thugs, taking the newly developed Freeze Cannon aboard his armored van to the GothCorp building, which was having a celebration dinner for its CEO being presented with a humanitarian prize. Confronting Boyle Arriving outside the building, Mr. Freeze fires the Freeze Cannon, slowly freezing it from bottom to top to trap its occupants inside before planning to enter and enact his vengeance on Boyle. However, only a third of the building was frozen before Batman, having escaped his captivity, arrived and disabled the van and the Cannon. Mr. Freeze, unwilling to accept defeat, scaled the building by kicking open a nearby fire hydrant, using his Freeze Gun to freeze the high-pressure stream of water in order to propel himself into the air to reach the floor the dinner was being held. Once there, Mr. Freeze located the room Boyle and his associates secured themselves in; freezing the door and smashing it open, Freeze confronts Boyle and begins to slowly freeze him from the feet up. However, Batman arrives and halts Mr. Freeze just as Boyle is frozen at waist level. Freeze then engaged Batman in a fight, using his Freeze Gun to keep Batman at bay until it was disabled by the Dark Knight. Freeze then brawled with Batman, proving to be a fearsome force with his strength-enhanced suit, almost defeating Batman with his physical might alone. Eventually, Batman was able to defeat Freeze, using a container of hot chicken soup he had on his person for his cold; smashing the container on Freeze's helmet induced thermal shock, shattering the helmet and exposing Freeze to the warmer room temperature. This disabled the criminal, allowing Batman to apprehend both Freeze and Boyle for their crimes, exposing Boyle's actions against Freeze to the police. Due to his special condition, Freeze was taken to Arkham Asylum, where a sub-zero cell was quickly prepared to hold him without his croygenic suit. His equipment was confiscated and locked away, the technology impressing Batman when analyzing it after Freeze's capture; the cryopod containing Nora was relocated to Wayne Enterprises, where she would remain on life support while Batman devoted some of his resources to finding a cure. Cold, Cold Heart Eventually, Mr. Freeze was able to pool resources in Arkham Asylum and managed to escape. He stole his suit and freeze gun back, and formed a vendetta against Batman, for he had thwarted his attempt to make Boyle suffer. Blaming Batman for his defeat and the apparent theft of Nora, Freeze swore to destroy whatever the Dark Knight holds dear, usually interpreted with the peace he tries to bring to Gotham. His ongoing plan is to develop Freezing weapons and technology to induce an ice age across Gotham City, though he is continuously thwarted by Batman. Personality Mr. Freeze has come to be as cold as the ice theme he embodies. Victor's love for his wife is so great that he would do literally everything to find a cure for her illness; he committed company espionage, robbery, murder, extortion and even became a career criminal because he didn't want to lose her. He may also suffer from some kind of attachment disorder as Victor appears incapable of letting those close to him go; not just Nora in his later life, but also the neighborhood pets in his early childhood. Information in the Patient Files from Arkham Asylum suggests'' that he froze his family pets in attempt to save them until he discovered a cure and was disgusted that his parents were prepared to put them down so easily. This is a similar situation with Nora; Victor, unable to accept losing her, began an obsessive and amoral hunt to save her, no matter how many lives it would cost. Victor projects his blame or guilt for his own losses rather than accept blame on himself or come to terms with his own losses. His hatred towards Batman was that he prevented him for killing Ferris Boyle, as he was partly responsible for his inability to save his wife. Though the root of his illegal actions are to discover a cure, Victor also has a strong sense of vengeance. After surviving his lab accident, his first action was to kill Ferris Boyle for refusing to follow through on his deal; he likewise swore revenge on Batman for preventing him from doing harm to Boyle, and for continuously thwarting his plans to acquire funds to develop his cure for Nora. Powers/Abilities Mr. Freeze has no powers or physical traits that place him above human ability. However, his body has been permanently altered to require him to exist in sub-zero temperatures, a condition that would result in his death if he ever exposes himself to normal temperatures for an extended period of time. In this manner, Mr. Freeze has acquired one trait above human level: *Extreme cold resistance: Mr. Freeze exists comfortably at sub-zero temperatures. In super cold environments, he can function normally without any life support gear, whereas normal humans would experience severe hypothermia and freeze to death. Equipment Mr. Freeze is well known for his advanced gear, which is cold-based and ice-themed. Cryo-Suit ''See also: Cryo Suit Mr. Freeze's most recognizable items are his Cryo-Suits, a series of advanced refrigerated units that enable him to remain alive in normal and hot temperatures, as he is unable to survive outside of sub-zero environments. While opperating as his mobile life support, the suits are also built to withstand immense amounts of damage and physical punishment, as well as augmenting Freeze's physical abilities such as strength and resilience. Each Cryo-Suit also comes with an electronic enhancement to Freeze's frail voice, serving to intimidate others in a fashion similar to Batman's own suit. In addition, the later series of suits often come with an advanced array of technology and cryo weapons as auxiliary equipment to accompany his primary weapon. Freeze Gun Mr. Freeze's primary weapon among his most recognizable items, the Freeze Guns are advanced devices that are capable of actively freezing any object solid, coating it in a thick shell of ice that renders them immobile and threatens to induce death by intense cold exposure. The Freeze Guns, while coming in a variety of shapes, sizes, and operational functionality, most have considerable range and are able to freeze targets as large as several humanoids or vehicles within seconds. The Freeze Guns can either be self-powered or powered by the Cryo-Suits Mr. Freeze wears. Later iterations of his Freeze Guns have been adapted with security measures to prevent his enemies from using his weapons against him. Gallery Mr. Freeze 02.jpg|Mr. Freeze's original Cryo-Suit Mr. Freeze 03.png|Mr. Freeze's current Cryo-Suit Trivia *Mr. Freeze's listed birthdate, December 7, comes from the birthdate of late actor Eli Wallach, recognized as one of a few actors that played Mr. Freeze in the 1960's Batman television series. Category:Male Category:Earth-1001 Inhabitant Category:Villain Category:Chaotic Neutral Category:Characters Category:Human Category:Bad